UK forecourts to be offered free access to Forecourt Eye tech
FORECOURT stations across the UK are to be offered free access to new crime reporting tech as part of Forecourt Eye‘s response to tackling ongoing crime.
Around 2,000 forecourt stations across the UK are set to benefit from Forecourt Eye’s new plans to expand its debt recovery and fuel crime prevention services as part of its new partnership with Facewatch.
Michelle Henchoz, managing director at Forecourt Eye, said: “Our customers have told us they increasingly want one place to manage everything from unpaid fuel and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) intelligence through to shop theft, violence and police reporting.
“This partnership delivers exactly that while fitting seamlessly into the way they already work. As offending becomes more organised and more sophisticated, operators need joined-up technology that helps them protect both their forecourt and their convenience store.”
The Forecourt Eye customers will be offered the new Crime Management Platform free of charge from this autumn. Current customers that already use Forecourt Eye’s tablet-based platform will see a new app from September added to their devices which will allow them access to Facewatch’s Crime Management Platform which will give operators enhanced crime reporting tools and evidence management without the changing the way they work.
As part of this, those customers who already make use of Forecourt Eye’s ANPR technology will also be able to adopt Facewatch’s live facial recognition tech, which can be combined to deliver further layers of protection for forecourt retailers and their staff members.
The move comes after Forecourt Eye’s latest analysis which found that unpaid fuel incidents – including No Means of Payment declarations and drive-offs – have risen 20% above the level recorded before the start of the US-Israeli conflict in Iran which has led to a sharp increase in fuel prices. Forecourt Eye has continued to report on the rise in fuel theft across the UK that has come as a result of the Middle East conflict.
Alongside this increasing fuel theft, forecourt operators have also reported growing levels of staff abuse, intimidation and violence from frustrated customers.
Nick Fisher, chief executive at Facewatch, said: “The distinction between fuel crime and retail crime has largely disappeared. Modern forecourts face the same prolific offenders, violence and abuse experienced across the wider retail sector.
“By combining Forecourt Eye’s expertise on the forecourt with Facewatch’s crime management capability, we’re giving operators a single platform to prevent crime, manage investigations and help police tackle repeat and violent offenders.
“The partnership also means forecourts can consider accessing our live facial recognition technology to create a really powerful shield against all types of crime and that next step would enable the capability to instantly alert police when the highest harm offenders are on their forecourts.”
